Freeman Park

I went out to photograph the Seventeen Mile Cave near Idaho Falls today. Susan was bringing the children down to "Boo at the Zoo" in the afternoon. I stayed around Idaho Falls in order to meet them at the Zoo. I wandered around Freeman Park, a beautiful park commemorating Idaho Vietnam Veterans. I made a few snapshots. After viewing them I wished I would have made some "real photographs". Here's one of the snaps.


Freeman Park, Idaho Falls, ID

Halloween Ghosts

I like the silly little ghosts people hang in their trees this time of year. Some are store-bought and some homemade. The combination of wind, light, and defoliated trees make for some elegant compositions.


Halloween Ghost #1, Rexburg, ID


Halloween Ghost #2, Rexburg, ID

Beaver Chewed Tree

I took a beautiful drive this afternoon. I drove west from Rexburg to I-15 (not the beautiful part of the drive). I then took I-15 north to Dubois and then drove up to Spencer (world famous for its opals) and Stoddard Creek. The light was soft and misty (sort of unusual for this part of Idaho), it felt like winter was on its way. Anyway, here's a photograph from the drive:


Tree with Beaver Damage, Stoddard Creek, ID

Web Page Updates

I've updated my webpage with a few new photographs in the "Explorations" category. I've also updated the cave page, which is in "The West" category.

I'd appreciate input, especially with the magpie nests and migration images contained in explorations.

Magpie Nests

Tonight Susan, the children, and I visited some friends who are living in an old farm home on the Fall River near Chester. While everybody was socializing I photographed.

Last winter I started photographing Magpie Nests. Magpies make large, circular, almost impenetrable structes in low-lying dense trees and shrubs. In the summer, they are hard to see because of the vegetation, but in the winter the structures are quite obvious. Now that fall is here I'm able to photograph them again.


Magpie Nest in Hawthorne, Chester, ID


Four Magpie Nests, Chester, ID

Camas Creek

Camas creek is a small creek that starts in the mountains near Kilgore and ends at Mud Lake. For most of its journey it travels through the desert north of Rexburg. Along its journey it is hammered by grazing cattle and irrigators. There are some areas that are quite lovely though. I visited Camas creek in the desert near Pine Butte yesterday hoping to find some interesting things to photograph. I went a little late and didn't really make any significant photographs, but do plan to go back (hopefull before the arctic death of winter arrives). Here's what I found:


Camas Creek, Clark County, ID


Failed Dam, Camas Creek, Clark County, ID


Wasp Nests in the Side of Camas Creek Dam (there were thousands of them)


Cows on the Road (a common sight this time of year)

One reason I like photography

Film and I guess digital capture can see things the eye can't. You can adjust to low-light, but it will still appear dark. Photography collects light and piles it on top of itself until you can see more in a photograph than you could have ever seen in person. That is one reason I enjoy photography more than any other visual art. I love the mystery and apprehension that comes from low-light photography. Here's an example from the other night. The sun had set, the moon was rising and there was a pretty nice balance of light leftover from the sunset, and the reflected light of the moon.


Fall River with Full Moon, Chester, ID

Trip to Jackson

Brian and I took two vans full of students to Jackson Hole, Wyoming today to look at photography in the Wildlife Art Museum and various galleries. It's always good to get out of Rexburg and see some great, good, and even mediocre work.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art had some tree and animal photographs by James Balog. Some of the work was interesting, while some seemed a little silly. The students enjoyed it. There was also some student photography completed at local workshops. Again, it was a mixed bag. If nothing else the work gave my students a confidence boost.

We then had lunch at The Merry Piglets and turned the students loose for a while. I bought Jelly Bellies at the candy store. Two awesome students also surprised me and bought me more Jelly Bellies (I like Jelly Bellies).

The Oswald Gallery was our next stop. This gallery opened in Jackson this summer. It shows important contemporary and historic photography. It's nice to have a world class fine art gallery this close to Rexburg. They were featuring photographs by Jack Spencer, sort of new pictorialist work, that was visually interesting if a little overdone. There were also prints on the walls by Brett Weston, Ansel Adams, Edward Curtis, Henri Cartier Bresson, Yousef Karsh, Jerry Uelsman, Adam Jahiel, Paul Strand, Imogen Cunningham, Christopher Burkett, and Paul Caponigro among others. Some of the students were blown away, others were confused, some seemed bored.

Images of Nature is a one-person gallery showcasing the work of Tom Manglesen. It's really nice wildlife and competent landscape photography. The students enjoyed the work.

Our last stop was the Brookover-Muench Gallery. It features the work of David Brookover and David Muench. Their photographs are very well-done commercially appealing color landscape photographs, mostly of familiar western locations. Brookover's work in particular is really nice for what it is. It was nice for the students to see the detail and color fidelity that's possible with 8x10 film. Brookover was at the gallery and was very friendly and approachable in his interaction with the students.

I came home and tried to photograph.


Fall River, Chester, ID 2005

Bag Dog Shadow

I like how this bag stuck in the fence doesn't look like much, but the shadow looks like a running dog.


Bag Dog Shadow, Morning


Bag Dog Shadow, Noon

Drummond School

I drove out to Squirrel, ID this afternoon. Squirrel is a small farming community east of Ashton. Not only does it have a cool name, but it's a beautiful area. Fall colors were beautiful, the weather was nice, and the light was just about perfect.
After driving around Squirrel, I drove a couple of back roads and ended up in Drummond (another small farming community). Along the way I investigated several abandoned buildings. One particular building of interest was an abandoned one-room school near Drummond.


Drummond School Exterior


Drummond School Interior


Message written on Drummond School Blackboard: "We were here from Reno, NV 9-94 Please don't destroy this place"


Drummond School Back Door at Sunset

Kevin's Birthday Party - Horse Pinata

Kevin turned seven Wednesday. Susan threw a party with some of his friends today. They drew on pumpkins, played some games, ate cookies, opened presents, and broke a sponge bob square pants pinata. They all seemed to have a good time. Susan eventually coaxed me out of my hide-out to participate in the party. I'm even socially uncomfortable with a bunch of 6-7 year-olds, but I survived.

I forgot to photograph the party with the digital camera, but I found something that looks sort of like a broken pinata. It's a little sad and quite graphic. What's going on with the stomach? I found this scene at Mud Lake today.


Dead Horse, Mud Lake, ID

Night in the Neighborhood

Our neighborhood goes a little overboard sometimes with holiday decorations. Maybe I'm just a little under enthusiastic about holiday decorations. One of our neighbors has had an over the top halloween decoration up for a week now. I went out tonight to photograph this weird blow-up Frankenstein's Monster in their yard and found a few other night scenes of interest. I love the way digital handles mixed light. The auto white balance does some pretty cool things. Enjoy:


Frankenstein's Monster


Shrub and Basketball Hoop


Our Home

cave scans

I scanned some negatives from a couple of recent cave outings. I scanned some from the interior of the Dubois Civil Defense Cave that I mentioned in my last post. It is really strange.


Dubois Civil Defense Cave, Dubois, ID

Jon and I also visited a couple of caves north of Rexburg. We have seen one cave on the map that's quite a ways from the other ones we've been photographing. We finally made it out there and it was pretty spectacular. It wasn't very interesting to photograph, but the inside was really neat with a lot of interesting formations including a lot of cave coral. Outside the cave we found (but left alone in case you were wondering) several arrowhead points and obsidian that looked like it had been worked on.

The other cave we visited was one we had been to before, but it was inaccessible to us. The only entrance was a hole in the ceiling of the cave that was ca. 20 feet above the floor. We brought an extension ladder that was just long enough. It wasn't a large cave, but it was among the most beautiful. See for yourself.

Dubois Civil Defense Caves

My son Kevin and I had a good day on Saturday (I would have updated sooner, but blogger was off-line). We went to Camas National Wildlife Refuge in the morning and watched them band a few birds, which he thought was really cool.

I heard about a civil defense cave in Dubois, which is ca. 20 miles north of Camas. We drove up to Dubois and found it right away. It's definitely the weirdest cave I've been to. There was a large gate with a bomb shelter sign and an enter at your own risk sign. There was a two track road leading into the cave. A few hundred feet in the entire cave was bricked over and there was a large locked steel door. There were barrels that looked like they held fuel or provisions next to the door. It was like a strange time warp back to the nuclear scare of the cold war. Kevin loved the caves and found all sorts of treasures including a Raven feather.

We then took the scenic (long) way home. We drove from Dubois to Kilgore and down to Rexburg. Kilgore is a beautiful little ranching community at the base of the Centennial Mountains. There were Bluebirds, Ravens, Pipits, and Ferruginous Hawks lining the road ways. Abandoned homesteads and willow lined creeks dot the landscape. Just before entering Kilgore we encountered a flock of sheep, including sheep dogs, and sheep herders on horses. Again, Kevin thought it was so cool. Enjoy the images.


Dubois Civil Defense Caves, Dubois, ID #1


Sheep, Kilgore, ID